Today is that great saint, Claude de la Colombierre's memorial.
The spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary.
'It is one of the most firmly established and most consoling of the truths that have been revealed to us that (apart from sin)
nothing happens to us in life unless God wills it so. Wealth and poverty alike come from Him. If we fall ill, God is the cause of our illness; if we get well, our recovery is due to God. We owe our lives entirely to Him, and when death comes to put an end to life, His will be the hand that deals the blow.
But should we attribute it to God when we are unjustly persecuted? Yes, He is the only person you can charge with the wrong you suffer. He is not the cause of the sin the person commits by ill-treating you, but He is the cause of the suffering that person inflicts on you while sinning.
God did not inspire your enemy with the will to harm you, but He gave him the power to do so. If you receive a wound, do not doubt but that it is God Himself who has wounded you. If all living creatures were to league themselves against you, unless the Creator wished it and joined with them and gave them the strength and means to carry out their purpose, they would never succeed.
You would have no power over me if it had not been given you from above, the Savior of the world said to Pilate. We can say the same to demons and men, to the brute beasts and to whatever exists -- You would not be able to disturb me or harm me as you do unless God had ordered it so. You are sent by Him you are given the power by Him to tempt me and to make me suffer.
You would have no power over me if it had not been given you from above.If from time to time we meditated seriously on this truth of our faith it would be enough to stifle all complaint in whatever loss or misfortune we suffer. What I have the Lord gave me, it has been taken away by Him. It is not a lawsuit or a thief that has ruined you or a certain person that has slandered you; if your child dies it is not by accident or wrong treatment, but because God, to whom all belongs, has not wished you to keep it longer.'
St. Claude de la Colombiere
'Every morning as soon as you get up think of all the most disagreeable things that could happen to you during the day. Your house might be burnt down, you might lose your job or all your savings, or be run over, or sudden death might come to you or to a person you love. Accept these misfortunes should it please God to allow them; compel your will to agree to the sacrifice and give yourself no rest until you really feel prepared to wish or not to wish all that God may wish or not wish.'
St. Claude de la Colombiere
'I feel so persuaded, O my God, that You graciously watch over those who hope in Thee, and that no one need require anything so long as they look up to Thee in all things, that I am determined for the future to lay at Your feet, all my anxieties and troubles. "In peace, in the selfsame I will sleep and rest. For thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope." (Ps. iv.)'
St. Claude de la Colombiere
'If you are sinful, repent so that you can communicate often. If you are imperfect, go often to Communion that you may amend your faults.'
St. Claude de la Colombiere
'Jesus Christ can do very little if He cannot uphold me from day to day. He will not fail to reproach me if I begin to relax; each day He will counsel me and give me new strength; He will instruct, console, and encourage me and give me all the graces for which I pray.'
St. Claude de la Colombiere
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